The It List: Five things to do in Berkeley this weekend

Cal Day is when UC Berkeley opens its gates to the world. Events include university tours, hundreds of booths, live music and kids’ activities. Photo: Ted Friedman

CAL DAY This year, Cal Day‘s theme is “One day. A million stories,” but it should probably be “One day. A million things to do.” The annual UC Berkeley open house is filled with lectures, tours, family-friendly events and information sessions for prospective students. Highlights include an exhibit featuring “the most disgusting animal on earth,” a panel of Cal’s Nobel laureate professors, and a student fine-art sale. The campus will be abuzz with activity beginning 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 12. For full details, visit Cal Day 2014 online.

ALL POWER LABSThe innovative All Power Labs is opening its West Berkeley doors to the public on Friday, April 11, following a saga where city officials initially pulled the plug (quite literally) on APL, and eventually issued a proclamation recognizing and celebrating the company at its fifth anniversary event last year. APL’s artists have developed a system that converts organic materials (like that corncob you threw out last night) to hydrogen-rich gas, and then burns the gas to generate electricity. There are over 500 of these systems in action in over 50 countries, and Fast Company called APL’s clean energy creation “potentially the most important and transformative energy product that no one has heard of.” Now that you have, stop by the scrapyard at 1010 Murray Street from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. to see it in action.

RESEARCHING YOUR BERKELEY DNA Third and fourth generation Berkeleyans (and anyone else interested in the history of our fine city) should stop by the Historical Society on Sunday, April 13. The president of the California Genealogical Society is giving a talk entitled Researching Your Berkeley DNA from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. She’ll help you add branches to your family tree and make sense of the black and white photos you have of your grandparents strolling down Shattuck. The lecture kicks off a genealogy exhibit which runs Thursday – Saturday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Berkeley Historical Society at 1931 Center Street.

fayecarol.com

JAZZ HERO AWARDThe Jazz Hero Award is presented at Yoshi’s, which is in Oakland, but its honoree, jazz vocalist and educator Faye Carol, has made an impact on the Bay Area at large and certainly in Berkeley. Through her celebrated Music in the Community program with Berkeley’s Black Repertory Group, the blues-y Carol has mentored and supported dozens of local youth musicians and crooned the the night away at many local venues. On Saturday, April 12, the Jazz Journalists Association — which counts Berkeleyside’s Andrew Gilbert among its ranks — will present Carol with a Jazz Hero Award from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at 510 Embarcadero West, with musical guests to be announced. Tickets are $20. Read Gilbert’s feature story on Faye Carol.

SACRED GROUNDThe central branch of the Berkeley Public Library is hosting a Sunday screening of the final installment of the Standing on Sacred Ground series from Berkeley-based Sacred Land Film Project. The films document several indigenous groups’ efforts to protect their precious land from industrialization, resource extraction, tourism and climate change. The latest piece, Islands of Sanctuary, explores the challenges facing native territories in Australia and Hawaii. It screens for free on April 13 at 4 p.m. Alison Owings, author of Indian Voices, will interview the filmmakers Toby McLeod and Jessica Abbe on stage.